Button and button-fastener.



No. 642,040. Patented Jan. 23, 1900.

E. A. GRIFFITH.

BUTTON AND BUTTON FASTENER.

(Application filed May 7. 1898.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets$heet l.

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BUTTON AND BUTTON FASTENEB.

A lication filed May 7. 1898.)

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. EDUARD ALEXANDER GRIFFITH, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

BUTTON AND BUTTON-FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 642,040, dated January 23, 1900. Application filed May 7,1898. Serial No. 680,042. (No model.)

To (LZZ whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, EDUARD ALEXANDER GRIFFITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, in the State of Mary land, have invented a new and useful Button, Button-Fastener, and Means for Securing the Same, of which the followingisa specification.

My invention relates to'improvements in buttons, button-fasteners, and means for securing the same, and especially to that class of buttons which are secured to the fabric by pronged fasteners penetrating the same; and my invention consists in the peculiar construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter more particularly described and then definitely claimed.

Figure 1 is a section through mybutton and fastener with the fabric or garment in position and secured. Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1, showing the button and fabric. Fig. 3 is a view showing in position the button in section,fastener in section, fabric, and clenching-die in position ready for fastening. Fig. 4. is a plan view of the fastener shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a view in section of the buttonbody and olenching-dies in position to compress the button-body and close the prongturners together. Fig. 6 is a plan View of the button shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the button after being closed, showing the fabric and a one-pronged fastener in position ready for clenching. Fig. Sis a plan view of the fastener shown in Fig. '7. Fig. 9 is a view taken in section, showing the button secured to the fabric.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

1 is the button body, which is secured to or integral with hollow oblong shank 2, at the bottom of which in bar 3 and inverted prongturners 4.

5 is the fabric to which the button is secured.

6 and 7 are prongs of the fastener of different lengths, as shown in the drawings, which are secured in head 8 by means of flanging the edges of the said head over projections 9, formed at the intersection of prongs 6 and 7 and the prong-bar 10. The head Sis annular in the drawings, the opening being to facilitate the bending or cutting of bar 10 in order to remove the clenched fastener, if desired.

11 is the clenching-die, which has curlingsurfaces 12 and 13, arranged so as to cause the prongs of the fastener to superimpose one on the other.

In Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 the clenching-die 11 is omitted, the prong-turners 4, consisting of curved strips projecting toward each other from the lower end of the button-body, being brought together, thus obviating the necessity for clenching-die 11. This is accomplished as follows: The lower end of the hollow-shank tool (shown in Fig. 5) is compressed by the setting-dies 14. and 15, thereby closing the adjacent ends of the prong-turners 4.

The head of the fastener shown is made annular, the central part being removed, the purpose of which is to afford facility for cutting or bending the prong-bar 10 for the purpose of getting the head off of the prong in removing the button from the fabric, if dc sired.

16 is cloth secured by retaining-plate 17 in Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, thus making a clothcovered button.

I do not wish to limit myself to a fastener of any given number of prongs, to a clothcovered or any kind of a covered or uncovered button, or to an oblong or any specific shaped shank.

The operation of myinvention is as follows: The button and fastener are held by suitable means whereby they are held in juxtaposition and in proper register for the fastener to enter and clench in the button, the oblong shank affording assistance in the proper holding of the said button. The fabric is inserted between the button and fastener to Where the button is desired to be secured. The button and fastener are then pressed together, the prongs of the fastener thereby penetrating the fabric and entering the button, their points coming in contact with prong-turners 4L, and by continuing the process the points of the prongs are forced toward each other by the clenching-die 11, the point of one prong bringing up on curling surface 12 of the clenching-die 11, and then being forced down before the other prong comes in contact With it, thus insuring one prong lapping over the other. A more or less rigidity of fastening may be had in accordance whether the fastener is clenched loose or tight.

In views 7, 8, and 9 a one-prong fastener is used and the clenching is accomplished by simply forcing the prong up and against prong-turners 4, which curl it over bar 3.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. As a new article of manufacture, a button having a hollow oblongshank with a crossbar at the bottom thereof, and curved strips. projecting from the inside of said tubular shank toward each other and above said crossbar, and serving to turn the prong or prongs of an entering fastener over said bar, as set forth.

2. A button having a hollow oblong shank with a bar extending across its lower end, and curved strips projecting from the inside of said tubular shank toward each other and above said cross-bar, and serving to turn the with a bar extending across its lower end, and

curved strips projecting from the inside of said oblong shank, toward each other and above said cross-bar, and serving to turn the prong or prongs of an entering fastener over said bar, said curved strips being adapted to be crossed together by compression of the I hollow shank, as set forth.

EDUARD ALEXANDER GRIFFITH.

\Vitnesses:

WM. \V. VARNEY, O. W. WIsNER. 

